Getting it right

[William Douglas]

Yesterday, I fell for one of those spoof emails that goes around, and around.

It made me laugh out loud, and, funnily enough, I called it 'Getting the story right'. But the laugh is on me. Shortly after I decided to pass it on, via the GenWise website, where I also have a blog, Ed Douglasss sent a warning:

Maybe this is a clever joke. Maybe it is dead serious. I don't know. But there is a lesson to be learned, depending on the facts of the situation.

How confident can we be that the biographical sketch of Remus Reid was, in fact, prepared by the staff of Harry Reid? That it was prepared honestly? That it was not prepared consciously as a preposterous joke?

If we can't be sure, then this biography is, itself, spin spun in the opposite direction.

My belief is that what Remus Reid did in his life is no relection whatsoever on Harry Reid.

So, I decided to do some research - something I should have done first, before passing it on. And, sure enough, up came the details of how the story is just a piece of fiction.

So, 'Getting it right' is something I need to work harder at.